Woman Says Grown Cousin Showed Up to Family Trip and Expected Everyone Else to Pay for Her: ‘The Last Straw for Me’

A woman says a family vacation meant to celebrate her sister turned tense when her cousin arrived expecting others to cover her share.

In a post on Reddit’s “Am I the A——?” forum, the 26-year-old explained that she and her 26-year-old cousin helped plan a surprise birthday trip for the woman’s older sister.

“Recently we planned a surprise birthday trip for my older sister to thank her for everything she does for us,” the original poster wrote.

During planning, the two agreed they would split the cost so the sister wouldn’t have to worry about expenses. But once the trip began, the cousin allegedly showed up “empty-handed” and asked the sister and the OP to pay for everything.

According to the OP, the cousin has a history of doing this—regularly tagging along to outings with little or no money and leaning on family members to cover costs.

“Everyone in our family babies her because she consistently shows up to places with no money and wants us to believe she makes no money at her job,” the OP wrote, adding that the situation on the trip became her “last straw.”

After the expenses piled up, the OP said she finally confronted her cousin and asked to be paid back.

“This morning I finally asked her to pay me back,” she wrote, claiming her cousin responded that the OP shouldn’t be “offering to pay for things (I didn’t)” and accused her of “pretending to be kind” when she wasn’t.

The OP ended by asking readers whether she was wrong to request repayment after months of advance notice to save up.

Commenters largely backed the OP and urged her to set firm boundaries going forward.

“It was a mistake to wait months. It was a mistake to pay for her in the first place. Learn from your mistakes,” one person wrote.

Another suggested cutting the cousin out of future plans unless she pays up front, warning that the pattern won’t change without clear consequences: if she doesn’t contribute before the trip, she shouldn’t be included—“no exceptions.”